Libraries aren't perfect places with every book in history, and often people don't feel like they can go there, don't understand how to use it, or how to get a library to get a book for them (interlibrary loan and whatnot) if it isn't right there on the shelves in front of them.
Of course. Librarians are working on this all the time--or should be. The graying of the profession is changing things big time. The Library 2.0 movement is about getting everyone up to a basic level of information literacy and then moving them past that into information proficiency.
I reckon that if you're smart enough to figure out how to download something and yet can't figure out to got a library or ask a librarian what the other options are, that's--just how it is.
And maybe, even if you try the library and find, yeah, the library is junk. Budgets don't support endless ILLing, either, even if you do stumble across that resource. But if someone is going to experience a moral quandary over illegal downloading, the library should cross one's mind.
I mean, this poll is about the moral argument, right? At what point do you decide to do something illegal?
There's a question in here somewhere too about... why can't a person just wait? Why does the gratification have to be instant? I know the answer, of course, but I don't think we should stop asking the question.
I mean, this poll is about the moral argument, right? At what point do you decide to do something illegal?
Exactly. And that's sort of what I want to puzzle out. Because I don't think most people who download think of themselves as doing something that's bad, or "that bad", and I'm curious about that. Sure, downloading a book illegally isn't like, rape or murder or anything, but there is an element of right and wrong.
If it makes you feel any better, given the chance, I'd actually prefer checking out books from authors/genres I like from the library than downloading, because that's just as good as sharing, but people get paid for it and those who can't afford books can have access.
Plus, it means that a book you love is there on the shelf, waiting to attract another reader. It spreads the love.
Also? I can make a dent in what the library purchases, you know? If they see that SF/F books (for example) are big hits, they'll order more.
I'd love to try to do that with the Glendale library, their entire non-fiction collection takes up exactly five shelves of the size that would fit easily in my house. Not that I blame the librarians. Queens isn't really channeling any funds into the place, and they can't even afford to pay a librarian to be there more than a few hours a weeks (which means on Tuesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and sometimes Mondays the place is closed, or closes at 3).
Of course. Librarians are working on this all the time--or should be. The graying of the profession is changing things big time. The Library 2.0 movement is about getting everyone up to a basic level of information literacy and then moving them past that into information proficiency.
That's a BIG task, and it shouldn't just be librarians doing it. I'm not sure what educators are doing in regards to this topic (a lot, I hope), but some of this should be covered in schools.
I know that the only reason that I know as much about how to navigate a library as I do is because I had a really, really dedicated elementary school librarian, Mrs. Wilcox (god rest her wonderful soul), who from the first grade to the fifth made damn sure we knew how to find anything and everything in that library, and didn't think that there was such a thing as being too young for a card catalog or the Dewey Decimal system.
We used to have "find a certain book/type of book" contest and games in the library during our time there. I was so totally good at it.
But I got lucky with her, you know? I never even knew who the librarians at my other schools were. And god only knows how many kids had schools that had no libraries or libraries they never went into.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 04:15 pm (UTC)Of course. Librarians are working on this all the time--or should be. The graying of the profession is changing things big time. The Library 2.0 movement is about getting everyone up to a basic level of information literacy and then moving them past that into information proficiency.
I reckon that if you're smart enough to figure out how to download something and yet can't figure out to got a library or ask a librarian what the other options are, that's--just how it is.
And maybe, even if you try the library and find, yeah, the library is junk. Budgets don't support endless ILLing, either, even if you do stumble across that resource. But if someone is going to experience a moral quandary over illegal downloading, the library should cross one's mind.
I mean, this poll is about the moral argument, right? At what point do you decide to do something illegal?
There's a question in here somewhere too about... why can't a person just wait? Why does the gratification have to be instant? I know the answer, of course, but I don't think we should stop asking the question.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 04:30 pm (UTC)Exactly. And that's sort of what I want to puzzle out. Because I don't think most people who download think of themselves as doing something that's bad, or "that bad", and I'm curious about that. Sure, downloading a book illegally isn't like, rape or murder or anything, but there is an element of right and wrong.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 04:41 pm (UTC)Plus, it means that a book you love is there on the shelf, waiting to attract another reader. It spreads the love.
Also? I can make a dent in what the library purchases, you know? If they see that SF/F books (for example) are big hits, they'll order more.
I'd love to try to do that with the Glendale library, their entire non-fiction collection takes up exactly five shelves of the size that would fit easily in my house. Not that I blame the librarians. Queens isn't really channeling any funds into the place, and they can't even afford to pay a librarian to be there more than a few hours a weeks (which means on Tuesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and sometimes Mondays the place is closed, or closes at 3).
no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 06:12 pm (UTC)LJ cut off my reply, sorry!
Date: 2009-02-06 04:36 pm (UTC)That's a BIG task, and it shouldn't just be librarians doing it. I'm not sure what educators are doing in regards to this topic (a lot, I hope), but some of this should be covered in schools.
I know that the only reason that I know as much about how to navigate a library as I do is because I had a really, really dedicated elementary school librarian, Mrs. Wilcox (god rest her wonderful soul), who from the first grade to the fifth made damn sure we knew how to find anything and everything in that library, and didn't think that there was such a thing as being too young for a card catalog or the Dewey Decimal system.
We used to have "find a certain book/type of book" contest and games in the library during our time there. I was so totally good at it.
But I got lucky with her, you know? I never even knew who the librarians at my other schools were. And god only knows how many kids had schools that had no libraries or libraries they never went into.